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Life is a
lot like fly fishing, Andy Blanton muses. You get knots, lose flies,
miss some fish, but once you land that elusive trout, it's all worth it.
"It's the Zen of all sports. It's like holding up a mirror in front of
yourself," he observed,"You have to be fully aware of the moment."
Blanton, executive chef of Cafe Kandahar on Big Mountain, relies on fly
fishing as a therapeutic release outside a busy kitchen.
"There's never an easy day as a chef; there's a tremendous amount of
stress," the 26-year-old said. "The key is keeping everything together,
and not freaking out."
His easy-going personality and laid-back style bode well for his
occupation.
Blanton's work has taken center stage this summer through the
restaurant's wine and dinner tasting sessions that have given him a
showcase for his culinary skills. The last dinner is Sept. 1 and
features contemporary Provencal cuisine.
Guests marvel that an executive chef still in his mid-20s can put
together sophisticated dishes that rival those of some of the best
chefs in the country. During the July wine and food tasting at Cafe'
Kandahar, he presented dishes like grilled buffalo filet with seared
foie gras, a tasso and molasses Worcestershire demiglace, haricot verts
with pan-toasted garlic and brown-butter fingerling potatoes.
Blanton shrugs and says "it's just what I do." That he found his niche
as a chef is somewhat happenstance."My mom was the type to do mac and
cheese for dinner," he said. "And I'd cooked nothing more than grilled
cheese (as a boy)."
His parents were in the military, so the family moved frequently. They
lived in New Orleans for a couple years when Blanton was in his early
teens, then moved to Virginia Beach, Va., where he finished high school.
Blanton started working in fast-food restaurants at 16, and graduated
to stints at a few bar and grill eateries.
The allure, he recalls, was people's reaction to good food, how excited
they got when something was fixed just right. He also thought cooks
were "cool" people.
"I just thought it would be a cool, fun business to get into," he said.
He earned an associate degree in culinary arts at the Culinary Arts
Institute of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, and continued to hone his
cooking skills during his schooling, working at the Hilton Hotel there
and several catering operations.
After earning his degree, he landed a job at the famous Commanders
Palace in New Orleans, a place made famous by Paul Prudhomme, Emeril
Lagasse and other great chefs.
"Anyone who's anybody in New Orleans has worked there," Blanton said.
"It's the boot camp of cooking. It's a real training ground."
The pace was brutal at Commanders Palace -- 600 to 800 dinners a night.
On the production line, Blanton did everything from peeling onions to
making stocks and soups. All the while , he took mental notes,
absorbing techniques and other chefs' culinary finesse.
He quit after a year to take time off to travel, and then delved into a
job in 1998 at another of New Orleans' finest -- Brigstens. With Frank
Brigsten as a mentor, Blanton fine-tuned his culinary skills.
After a couple of years, Blanton decided to move to the mountains, and
traveled to places like Jackson Hole and Yellowstone Park, looking for
the perfect spot.
"When I got to Glacier park, it blew me away," he recalled. "Then I saw
Whitefish and I said 'hey, this looks cool.' "
That was four years ago, and since then, work at Cafe' Kandahar has
evolved into his dream job.
"Bob Riso took over two years ago and he's a wonderful guy to work
for," Blanton said. "He has complete trust in us and that's key in what
we do, to not have limitations. We can be creative and have fun.
Obviously we have to keep food and labor costs in mind, but this is
definitely a dream job."
With assistance from sous chef Will Rogan and pastry chef Susan Carter,
Blanton said he couldn't ask for more.
"It's allowed us to catapult to a level we want to be at," Blanton said.
He's constantly working on his creative edge, developing sauces and
ways of presenting dishes. He's even named a sauce after his mother --
Sauce Dalise -- a blend of onions, bay leaves, currents, brandy, brown
sugar and demiglace that goes with a lamb dish.
The restaurant specializes in classic French and traditional New
Orleans cuisine.
"With making sauces to order, it's quite challenging," Blanton said.
"We get compliments from people who say 'I had no idea food could taste
like that.' "
His personal favorite food is foie gras. "I will order foie on any
menu," he said. "Otherwise, I gravitate toward seafood."
Working evenings gives him free time during the day to fly fish, and he
travels throughout northwestern Montana in search of fly-fishing
streams.
"It's how I enjoy spending my free time," he said. "It's all catch and
release. I have yet to keep one. The satisfaction is all in catching
it, and admiring its beauty."
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